The tenant eventually reached an agreement to pay $500 (Rs26,370) to the landlord
An inevitable part of renting a property is dealing with the landlords. However, many times, landlords put up weird conditions, demands, and requests, that leave renters scratching their heads. One such tenant in Sydney was left stunned after their landlord demanded them to pay $1000 (Rs 52,743) for a small scratch on a wooden floor panel. The landlord claimed that she would need to replace all the floorboards because of the damage incurred.
The tenant, who goes by the username ‘BabyButtercup’ wrote on Reddit, ”Just want to ask if it sounds ridiculous to you that my landlord wants to charge $1000 for a minimal scratch on a panel of a timber floor? Her plan is to remove and redo the whole flooring because I’ve unintentionally made a scratch on a panel, I repeat, a minimal almost invisible scratch on one of the panels. Does that make sense to you?”
See the post here:
Landlord wants to charge $1000 for a scratch mark on a panel of timber wood floor
byu/BabyButt3rcup inaustralia
Many on Reddit called the landlord’s demand ”ridiculous”. One user wrote, ”If it’s careless damage the tenant could be up for paying … but $1k seems excessive if it’s not a large scratch.” Another commented, ”Sounds like she’s trying to use your cash to fund a new floor.” A third added, ”She wants new timber flooring and is using you to subsidise it. Tell her no and if she threatens to take it out of your bond challenge her at your state’s rental tribunal as it would probably come under under reasonable wear and tear.”
The renter and their partner, in a separate post, said that they would be going to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) as they ”didn’t agree” with paying $1000. However, they eventually reached an agreement to pay $500 to the landlord and to drop their NCAT case.
They also shared pictures of the floor.
Update: Landlord wants to charge $1000 for a scratch mark on a panel of timber wood floor
byu/BabyButt3rcup inaustralia
”Initially, I didn’t wanna pay $500 and insisted on going for NCAT and my partner agreed but after two days he asked me if we could close the case and just pay them $500 because he doesn’t wanna waste his time going for the NCAT. I was upset because I wanted to fight but he didn’t and it makes sense that it wasn’t worth anyone’s time. We decided to close the case with the agents and paid $500.
You can have a look at the photos and let me know if the scratch worth $500 because for me it’s not. Also, I found out that the premises have already been rented out again so does the owner wanna do the flooring while there are new tenants staying? Any of these doesn’t make any sense. They even had the audacity to complain about the blind saying it wasn’t tracking properly which wasn’t even true. I hope she spends that $500 well bec if I wasn’t with my partner, I would’ve gone to court,” the tenant wrote.
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